LT Gila Sadar - Before We are Healers, We are Officers
LT Gila Sadar
(( Hazard Suite - Primary Sickbay, Deck 7, USS Artemis-A ))
Gila shuffled uneasily in place. She hadn’t been Assistant Chief of Medical aboard the USS Artemis-A for very long, and with all that was about to happen, she likely wouldn’t be for much longer either. This would be her one and only time offering correction to a junior officer, and she hated every second of it. Not only did it feel wildly hypocritical to do so, considering the task she still had ahead of her, but it also felt dishonest.
Sadar: I-I, uhh... I-I wanted to address something with you.
Everything in Doctor Bancroft’s expression told her that he knew exactly what was coming. The exchanged look in that dark basement level of the structure in Breetia was as clear to her as though she saw it in his eyes right now: evidence of sin, but one justified by need and principle. The worst kind of sin, because everyone could agree that it shouldn’t be that in the first place.
Sadar: I-It’s... A-About your conduct with the injured Grunden beneath the shelter. Th-The injured mother and child.
Bancroft: ::quietly, without hesitation:: Yes, Doctor Sadar. I remember the incident… distinctly.
Gila twisted her anxiety band once, twice, thrice and so forth, trying to figure out how to approach the issue. In truth, she wanted to tell him ‘good work’ and be on her merry way, but she couldn’t do that. Doctor Bancroft was a brilliant physician, a flexible officer and adept at thinking at his feet - she’d seen evidence of this in the After Action Reports he’d submitted - and she had no doubt he was going to go far. But she also knew Fleet Captain MacKenzie well enough at this stage.
She appreciated flexibility and creativity, but her orders were absolute. And if not, you needed a really good explanation for why your own suggestion was better. Something Gila had never excelled at herself.
Sadar: Y-You admit that, initially, they were injured?
Bancroft: ::nods, steady:: Yes ma’am. They were injured. The mother sustained a deep shrapnel laceration along the left flank, extending from the lower ribs to the iliac crest. Hemorrhaging was significant, respiration was considerably labored, and signs of impending hypovolemic shock were evident. The child was… physically unharmed.
Sadar: You admit that you administered standard crisis care to them both?
Doctor Bancroft’s expression was resolute. He would face whatever discipline she had to mete out with a raised brow, confident in his choice, but aware of the potential consequence it could have on him as a physician.
Gila twisted her anxiety ring once.
She wondered if she would be able to do the same? No. When she made mistakes, she made the wrong ones for the wrong reasons... She was nowhere near as honorable as the young and idealistic Doctor standing in front of her.
Bancroft: Correct. I treated the wound; stabilized the mother. And before you and Ensign Cole came down into the cellar, I told the girl not to speak of what she saw. ::Slow, deliberate breath:: Not to cover my tracks. Not to protect me. I told her that because she’d been through more than any child should have to – and I wasn’t going to make her carry the weight of my decision on top of everything else.
Lieutenant Gnai’s form floated before Gila’s inner eye as she listened to Doctor Bancroft’s explanation. The ghost of her own voice making a coward’s request to the isolated Ensign, its former suit assimilated by Borg, as they travelled back to the Artemis via shuttlecraft after their brief service aboard the Kitty Hawk.
oO Ensign, I have a request to make of you. What happened on the Bridge… W-W-W-With your suit. I-I would, uhh... A-Appreciate it if that could be... Kept between the two of us. Oo
She’d never stopped to think of what she’d asked the Ensign to do. To lie to its senior officers to keep her sins a secret. The sharp twang of guilt speared her heart at that notion. She had many apologies to make in the coming days as they returned to DS224.
Sadar: ... You recall that I specified we had a non-interference order issued by Fleet Captain MacKenzie?
Bancroft: Response
Gila sighed slightly as she wrung her hands together.
Sadar: A-As, uhh, D-Doctors, we graduate the Academy swearing to, mh, do no harm, a-and, uh, to preserve life. Healing and protecting is our, lifeblood..? ::shakes her head slowly:: However, following the Captain’s orders will sometimes force you to, uhh, disregard that. And b-before we are healers, we are... Officers. The two aspects won’t always conflict, but sometimes they will. A-And when those times come, we look to our senior officers to point the way forwards. ::sad smile:: It’s our duty to follow those orders, even if we know we could make a difference by disregarding them.
Bancroft: Response
Sadar: No... W–Well, yes... I-I mean. ::clears throat:: I-I’ve not put you in for a disciplinary. However! I-I’ve given you some extra shifts. A-And until we reach DS224, L-Lieutenant Meyers will be monitoring your work.
Doctor Bancroft didn’t need to know that the extra shifts would’ve happened regardless... Though she did wonder if perhaps she should give him ample warning that Lieutenant Meyers would not be happy about having to sign off on his paperwork. Then again, Lieutenant Meyers was rarely happy about anything, so perhaps he expected that already.
Bancroft: Response
TAG/TBC
LT Gila Sadar
Assistant Chief of Medical
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1